CCU football stadium to get new video board

May 5, 2012|Ryan Young, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

CONWAY While the Coastal Carolina Board of Trustees surely piqued the interest of Chanticleer fans Friday by granting university president David DeCenzo authority to act on any potential change in conference affiliation that might present itself, the board also took another action that could have a more immediate impact on CCU athletics.

It was announced Friday that Coastal's football team will be getting a new -- and vastly improved -- video board for Brooks Stadium, perhaps in time for the 2012 season opener in September.

The Board of Trustees approved a $560,000 loan from the university to the department of athletics to purchase the new video board, which will be two-and-a-half to three times larger than the current one while offering crisper video quality, CCU athletic director Hunter Yurachek said.

"We've convened a committee this spring at the request of the president and Board of Trustees that includes students, student athletes, alums, people from student affairs and alumni affairs to talk about how we can dynamically change the gameday atmosphere within Brooks Stadium," Yurachek said.

The video board, which will replace the current one in the same location in the open end zone of the stadium, is a key piece of that, he added, noting that Big South Conference rivals Liberty and Stony Brook have recently upgraded in that area as well.

"We're working feverishly now with Daktronics to get that board designed and ready for the first game Sept. 1," Yurachek said.

The loan from the university comes with no interest and will be repaid by the department of athletics over five to 10 years through the revenue generated by sponsorship sales, he said.

Henderson surging

The Coastal women's golf team also received some good news this week as junior Brittany Henderson secured an at-large bid into the NCAA Central Regional, to be played May 10-12 in Columbus, Ohio.

It will be the third straight NCAA regional appearance for Henderson, who will be the Chants' lone representative this year.

Henderson is ranked 155th collegiately by Golfweek, but CCU women's golf coach Katie Quinney thinks that number is a bit misrepresentative.

"Her ranking is really not indicative of what a good player she is and how much potential she has to really impress some people once we get [to the regional]," Quinney said.

Henderson's performance of late, meanwhile, is plenty indicative of that potential. She set the tournament scoring record at the Big South championship last month with a 2-under 214 over 54 holes.

"She's playing great," Quinney said. "She really had a lot of good things going in the fall, working on some swing changes and practicing as hard as anything I've ever seen. At the end of the fall season, she came to some new realizations as to where her mental game needed to be."

And after finishing tied for 95th at the NCAA regionals as a freshman and tied for 78th last year, she'll be hoping to ride her recent momentum to a higher finish this time around.